Skill

mic-level-check

Sample a microphone for a few seconds and report peak/RMS level, clipping, and silence. Use to confirm a mic is actually picking up audio and roughly at the right gain. Quick diagnostic — for full dictation tuning use dictation-mic-tune.

npx claudepluginhub danielrosehill/claude-code-plugins --plugin claude-pipewire-skills

Tool Access

This skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.

Preview

Capture a short clip from a source and report the level so the user can tell whether the mic is alive, muted, too quiet, or clipping.

SKILL.md

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Last CommitApr 29, 2026

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Mic Level Check

Capture a short clip from a source and report the level so the user can tell whether the mic is alive, muted, too quiet, or clipping.

Steps

Resolve target source: default with @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ unless the user specified a device (then resolve the ID/name via list-audio-devices).

Confirm it's not muted:

wpctl get-volume <source-id>

Record ~3 seconds:

parecord --device=@DEFAULT_SOURCE@ --record-time=3 --file-format=wav /tmp/miccheck.wav 2>/dev/null

(Or parec | sox if parecord isn't available.)

Analyse with sox:

sox /tmp/miccheck.wav -n stats 2>&1

Capture: RMS lev dB, Pk lev dB, Min/Max amplitude.

What to report

Peak dB: ideal for speech is around -6 dB to -12 dB. Above -3 dB → risk of clipping. Below -30 dB → too quiet, raise gain.

RMS dB: ideal -18 to -24 dB for speech.

Silence detected: if peak is below -50 dB, mic is probably muted, broken, or has wrong device routing.

Clipping: if Max amplitude ≥ 0.99, lower gain.

Suggested fixes (offer, don't auto-apply)

Too quiet → raise volume with wpctl set-volume <source-id> 1.2 (Pipewire allows >1.0 software gain up to ~1.5 cleanly).

Clipping → reduce volume; also check whether a hardware boost is enabled in alsamixer.

Silent → check mute state, check pavucontrol Recording tab for app routing, check whether the right Bluetooth profile (HSP/HFP) is active.

For a richer dictation-tuned workflow (RNNoise, gain staging, persisted source), use dictation-mic-tune.

Mic Level Check

Capture a short clip from a source and report the level so the user can tell whether the mic is alive, muted, too quiet, or clipping.

Steps

Resolve target source: default with @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ unless the user specified a device (then resolve the ID/name via list-audio-devices).
Confirm it's not muted:
```
wpctl get-volume <source-id>
```

Record ~3 seconds:

parecord --device=@DEFAULT_SOURCE@ --record-time=3 --file-format=wav /tmp/miccheck.wav 2>/dev/null

(Or parec | sox if parecord isn't available.)

Analyse with sox:
```
sox /tmp/miccheck.wav -n stats 2>&1
```
Capture: RMS lev dB, Pk lev dB, Min/Max amplitude.

What to report

Peak dB: ideal for speech is around -6 dB to -12 dB. Above -3 dB → risk of clipping. Below -30 dB → too quiet, raise gain.
RMS dB: ideal -18 to -24 dB for speech.
Silence detected: if peak is below -50 dB, mic is probably muted, broken, or has wrong device routing.
Clipping: if Max amplitude ≥ 0.99, lower gain.

Suggested fixes (offer, don't auto-apply)

Too quiet → raise volume with wpctl set-volume <source-id> 1.2 (Pipewire allows >1.0 software gain up to ~1.5 cleanly).
Clipping → reduce volume; also check whether a hardware boost is enabled in alsamixer.
Silent → check mute state, check pavucontrol Recording tab for app routing, check whether the right Bluetooth profile (HSP/HFP) is active.

For a richer dictation-tuned workflow (RNNoise, gain staging, persisted source), use dictation-mic-tune.